Thanks for the walk-to-drink tip, delighted to report it worked a treat. Slowing down to a walk stopped any sign of the dreaded stitch, and it's definitely better and quicker overall to slow down for about 20 seconds than to either struggle to keep going because you're too hot & thirsty or have to stop for a minute or so and recover from a stitch. Plus, it works as a little motivational 'reward' - I can slow to a walk for a drink when I get to the top of this hill... Thanks Marge :)

Most people find it a real struggle on hot days as we are having at the moment, but its not necessarily always through lack of hydration - its just harder on the body when its hot!.  Of course, you will be extra thirsty and its totally right to drink when you feel you need it, but not just for the sake of it.  When I do a long run on hot days I tend to do laps and leave a bottle of drink (preferably sports drink which replaces sodium and carbohydrates as well as fluid) at the beginning of each lap.  But, the body can only absorb so much fluid anyway and there can be the risk of hyponatremia (dilution of sodium in the bloodstream) which can be very dangerous if you force too much down because you feel like you ought to.  We have an article on this coming up in our next newsletter - but the current wisdom is to drink between 500 to 800ml per hour of fluid - the lower range being more than adequate for most and the higher range only for very fast runners!  Some people who are jogging slowly and especially those that may be taking walking breaks may need less.  I did a 1hr 30 min run yesterday and it was incredibly tiring in this heat - but drank when thirsty and probaly drank about 400ml during the run (I have the same problem with being uncomfortable when there is too much sloshing around inside!).  Then, when I'd finished I had a nice cold 500ml bottle of sports drink - something to look forward to!

I can't help with an answer to this problem I'm afraid Jonathan, as I too suffer from it - drinking even the tiniest amount when I'm running results in the most terrible bring-you-to-a-halt stitch. Running without taking on additional fluids seems fine in the winter, but boy am I struggling now it's hot. Any advice would be greatly appreciated